Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Friday that he assisted in freeing a law-breaking salon owner from jail because the ruling from a Dallas County judge “lacked common sense."

Abbott also implied that the heroic treatment given to North Dallas salon owner Shelley Luther is not an example of white privilege, as some critics contend.

“That was devoid of any common sense. It was absolutely absurd the way that this judge in Dallas County went about doing it in such a punitive way,” Abbott said during a recording of this Sunday’s Lone Star Politics, a joint venture between The Dallas Morning News and KXAS-TV (NBC 5). “It is wrong to try to put behind bars a business owner who’s just trying to make ends keep (sic).”

On Tuesday, state District Judge Eric Moyé fined Luther and sentenced her to seven days in jail after she violated orders to shut down her business as the area waged its fight against the coronavirus. Luther was jailed for contempt of court.

"The defiance of the court's order was open, flagrant and intentional,” he said at the time. “The defendants, although having been given an opportunity to do so, have expressed no contrition, remorse or regret for their contemptuous action."

On Friday, the longtime judge did not comment on Abbott’s remarks.

Moye’s sentence is a flashpoint for the ongoing debate on when and how to reopen the Texas economy, and what to do when business owners violate orders to shut down. On Friday, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz visited Luther’s salon for a haircut to offer his support.

Luther violated Abbott’s order, as well as Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins’ mandate. But conservatives around the country have flocked to her defense.

And this week Abbott, in an extraordinary move, retroactively reversed his order designed to combat the coronavirus and keep Texans safe. Later the Texas Supreme Court ordered Luther released from jail.

“We need to have balance in our legal system,” Abbott said. “If a legal system doesn’t make sense, people are not going to comply.”

Democrats have blasted Abbott’s move, saying that he often sides with people that share his race.

“It’s shameful that the governor of the state Texas picks losers and winners on his own,” Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said. “It shows you the kind of governor Greg Abbott is.”

“This other woman who insults an African American judge and tears up the shutdown order, this governor steps in and defends her," Hinojosa said. "It’s a total affront to our justice system and to equal rights under our constitution.”

“Shelley Luther broke the law. Judge Eric Moyé enforced the law,” she said. “Anyone who says Judge Moyé’s ruling is absurd doesn’t understand that Judge Moyé was doing his job, and Luther was in contempt of court.”

Abbott and Dallas County officials have constantly clashed over criminal justice issues and the fight against the coronavirus.

The governor has been critical of Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot’s initiatives to curb mass incarceration, including a controversial plan to stop prosecuting some petty theft.

“It doesn’t make sense in Dallas County because you have a district attorney in Dallas County who’s saying that he is not going to arrest or prosecute people who steal items valued at $750 or less,” he said. “You have county maybe considering letting people out of jail, who committed crimes, let them out because of a COVID-19 issue in jail, and yet at the very same time, put in jail someone who is a law-abiding hardworking, business owner, simply because they’re trying to earn money to feed their kids.”

Abbott and others have been criticized for not vociferously coming to the aid of two Hispanic women — who were arrested and jailed in Laredo for illegally opening salons.

“They were arrested not yet confined,” Abbott said of the Laredo women. “I made sure that I made my decision, retroactive, so those two Hispanic women in Laredo would not be subject to having to spend time behind bars.”

Abbott added that his new order “covers anybody else I was unaware of” and that there “could be some other stories out there that have not yet been brought to my attention.”

“I made sure that this applies to everybody, of every race, of every background, across the entire state of Texas,” Abbott said.

Abbott on Friday also defended entering another phase of reopening the state’s economy, a move that included barber shops and salons.

Renée Cross, senior director at the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston, said this week that Abbott seems to be lurching forward, without regard to the expectations he has created that he would be deliberate about reopening.

“There seems to be a pattern of inconsistency surrounding the executive orders, about not only what it is or what the fine could be, but also when they expire,” she said. “Look at what happened this week with the hair salon folks. When he made that [April 27] executive order, he said this would be in effect until May 18 and at that point, looking at the data, looking at what happened in this first two weeks, they then would decide whether or not to open salons and gyms and bars and so forth."

”But it’s only just over one week into May," Cross said. ”Obviously, we didn’t get a whole lot of data in."

Abbott said that he has worked with scientists and business owners about allowing shops to reopen.

“The doctors were able to get comfortable with it,” he said. "The owners of the salons were able to get comfortable with it. And so we were able to go ahead and make the announcements."

“The most important thing that can happen, regarding the coronavirus is make sure we hold down death,” Abbot said. “Understand, Texas has one of the lowest death rates in the United States. In fact, the only states that have a lower death rate are large states with low population like Montana, Wyoming and Alaska and states like that, so as it concerns the ultimate outcome, and that is death, Texas is in great condition.”

According to a CNN coronavirus map, Texas has about 4 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 residents. That places it among the 12 states with the lowest rates of mortality from the virus. It is tied with Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota and Tennessee for the eighth lowest death rate among the states.

Gromer Jeffers Jr., political writer. The Howard University graduate and Chicago native has covered four presidential campaigns and written extensively about local, state and national politics. Before The News, he was a reporter at The Kansas City Star and The Chicago Defender. You can catch Gromer every Sunday at 8:30 a.m. on NBC 5's Lone Star Politics.